Quiz Archive

About quiz # 205 1913 Korvensuu... !

Maybe a bit of an insiders car, still we had answers from three different continents and seven countries..! Basis of the quiz was the photo and story sent to us by Raul Valkila from Helsinki: "Previously you may have read about the Finnish made ‘Finlandia’ car of which a total of four were built in 1922-1924 (check previous feature). However the first entirely Finnish built car was created almost a decade earlier. In 1912 Mr Frans Lindström, who was an owner of a small machine factory, decided to build a car as an example of his company’s craftsmanship. Serial production was never intended to take place. During the years 1912-1913 a car was designed and manufactured from scratch. The car was named ‘Korvensuu’ - after the factory where it was built. The engine block was moulded by an expert foundry man. The three-speed gearbox was home-made. The engine was an air-cooled four-stroke inline 2-cylinder and had 10hp. As a result, domestic content was unusually high. The only parts which were not self-made were magneto, spark plugs, rear axle bearings and tires. Front axle bearings were made in the shop. This fine example of skill and professional craftsmanship still exists. From the picture you can see that the car has remained in original condition except for the radiator which was replaced after a small frontal accident. Tires are also smaller size than originally. The ‘Korvensuu’ -car can be seen on display at a local museum in Mynämäki, on the south-western coast of Finland."
(partly) correct answers came in from Ingo Jost (France), Marc Fellman (Australia), Farkas Sandor (Hungary), Timo Laitinen (Finland), Verner Johnson (Denmark), Szczepan Kolaczek (Poland) Anders Fors (Finland), Thomas Edfors(USA). To us the unpleasant tasks to decide who was best based on harsh decisions... Several of you recognised the car, exposed a lot of knowledge but failed to produces the correct name 'Korvensuu' which is basic to this quiz. Some books say this is the Lindström car, named after its maker. Later research however shows that Lindström named the car Korvensuu... Four of you were left. Unfortunately two made the mistake to call builder Hans Lindström ... Frans Lindström. A small mistake, but still... We were left with one Danish and two Finnish competitors. I hope the Finns will forgive us that we decided to favour Verner Johnson from Denmark. Congratulations ! (photo courtesy Rainer Stolz Collection)
On the next page some excerpts of what competitors wrote to us. Marc Fellman:"... Frans Lindstrom of the firm Mynama, Kone & Sahkotehdas actually began construction in 1912 of the one and only Lindstrom car but it took around a year to complete. The car also sported wire wheels. It spite of being technically up-to-date for the period it never went into series production due to the demands of Finland's war of independence. This little car was licensed for road use up until 1924."
Farkas S?ndor:"....My estimation is, that this is the one-off Korvensuu car from Finland, built in 1913."
Timo Laitinen:"the two-speed epicyclic gearbox was later changed to three-speed one made by the factory. The engine is two-cylinder air-cooled (using three propellers) unit with automatic inlet valves. There are two seats and one door. The car was in regular use until 1924. Present wheels (originals were 28") and Tillotson carburettor are not original.
Thomas Edfors:"My grandfather came over from Sweden in about 1914 having traveled around around northern Europe prior to coming to America. When he knew that I was becoming interested in early motorcars (and saw my first antique, a 1912 Metz) he told me of the early Swedish Scania he had seen but also of the car #205 is. If my memory works well, this car is a Lindstrom (there should be 2 dots above the 'o' but my program won't type it) made in Finland, of all places. My guess for age is around 1913 (?). Grandfather had indicated that the car was somewhat advanced (especially after looking at my Metz) but never got into full scale production due to Finland's fight for independence. I believe prior to the Great War Finland was 'owned' by Imperial Russia and was not encouraged industrialize and certainly had rather poor roads, at least compared to the rest of Europe. By the way, it looks to me that the original wire wheels may have been altered to allow for later smaller diameter and fatter tires to be installed."
Verner Johnson:"you could say, that this is a Russian car, as Finland was controlled by Russia in 1913. Some sources say, that a few cars were built by hand, another says only one. Today the (remaining) car can be seen in the Finnish Powerstation Museum: Korvensuu Power Station and Engineering Museum in Mynämäki, Finland."
Szczepan Kolaczek:"However, its creator was not able to drive it till 1924, because of the hostility of the local Russian authorities. Lindstroem had also problems with getting proper tires for his car, they were later substituted with a rope wrapped around the wheel rim, as it can be seen on the attached photo. The other pre-war Finnish car brand is Finlandia - both have nine letters. The information, as well as the photo comes from Witold Rychter's book "Dzieje Samochodu" ("The history of the automobile")."
Anders Fors:"...a new gearbox was constructed by Juho Koski, who was in work the same company and later owner of the car."
Ingo Jost: "...Built in Mynämäki / Finnland as a `one off ` by the Fabricant"

Friday, 22 June 2007